Backspacer Album by Pearl Jam

Backspacer is the ninth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, released on September 20, 2009. The bandmembers started writing instrumental and demo tracks in 2007, and got together in 2008 to work on an album. It was recorded from February through April 2009 with producer Brendan O'Brien, who was working with the band for the fourth time—this was their first collaboration since 1998's Yield. Material was recorded in Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California and O'Brien's own Southern Tracks Recording in Atlanta, Georgia. The music on the album—the shortest of the band's career—features a sound influenced by pop and New Wave. The lyrics have a more optimistic look than the ones in the politic-infused predecessors Riot Act and Pearl Jam, something frontman Eddie Vedder attributed to the election of Barack Obama.

The band released the album through their own label Monkeywrench Records with worldwide distribution by Universal Music Group via a licensing agreement with Island Records. Physical copies of the record were sold through Target in North America, and promotion included a deal with Verizon, a world tour, and moderately successful singles "The Fixer" and "Got Some"/"Just Breathe". Reviews for Backspacer were positive, praising the sound and composition, and the album became Pearl Jam's first chart topper at the United States' Billboard 200 since 1996's No Code, while also topping the charts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Eddie Vedder, and all music is composed by Vedder, except where noted.
No. Title Music Length


1. "Gonna See My Friend" 2:47


2. "Got Some" Jeff Ament 3:01


3. "The Fixer" Matt Cameron, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard 2:57


4. "Johnny Guitar" Cameron, Gossard 2:49


5. "Just Breathe" 3:34


6. "Amongst the Waves" Gossard 3:57


7. "Unthought Known" 4:08


8. "Supersonic" Gossard 2:38


9. "Speed of Sound" 3:34


10. "Force of Nature" McCready 4:03


11. "The End"

Personnel

Pearl Jam

Jeff Ament – bass guitar, layout design
Matt Cameron – drums, percussion
Stone Gossard – guitar
Mike McCready – guitar
Eddie Vedder – guitar, vocals, layout design; credited as "Jerome Turner" for album concept